Too Disabled To Parent?Imagine living in constant fear that your kids will be taken away from you simply because you have a disability? For 6.1 million children in the U.S. living with disabled parents, home removal rates go as high as 80%. According to a new report by the National Council on Disability, the rights of parents with disabilities and their children are routinely ignored.
The report, “Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children”, shows parents with disabilities are disproportionately required to engage in unnecessary battles to retain custody of their children. Despite strong protections against discrimination in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other legislation, parents with disabilities are still routinely stripped of rights in social service and court system proceedings every day.
The report directs a federal commission be established to more fully assess the impact of discrimination against families headed by parents with disabilities and that work begin to respond in ways that provide supports to support families instead of pulling them apart.
A colleague experienced the agony of having to relinquish custody of her young child after an accident left her paralyzed from a spinal cord injury. Medicaid laws don’t allow her homecare aides to help her care for her child, and she did not have earnings that would allow her to hire private help. This woman is bright and independent and navigates home and community on her own with the help of a power wheelchair she controls with adaptive equipment.
She is simply a mother who needs help to physically interact with her child. The system though won’t allow her to do that.
To view the report’s findings and recommendations, visit NCD. If you have your own story to share, please comment on your experiences with disability and child-rearing and what advice you have for legislators and others on this issue.